Thursday, March 10, 2011

Vickers sees red


UK football has been hit by a flurry of disputed red cards in recent weeks. A disagreement over Robin van Persie’s sending off against Barcelona saw Arsene Wenger face disciplinary action (and gave Arsenal fans a scapegoat to pin the blame on if reports in the Mirror are to be believed.) In the Rangers v. Celtic clash El-Hadji Diouf was said to have received two red cards after he refused to leave the pitch immediately. (According to the Telegraph the Scottish Premier League has since refuted the claims)

We all love to have a good whine about an unfair sending off, after all our beloved team couldn’t possibly be responsible for losing the match/league/cup/plot! However few of us have as much to complain about as Dorchester fans after their player-manager, Ashley Vickers, was sent off last week.

Sky News reports that in a tie between non-league Dorchester and Havant and Waterlooville, a man dashed across the pitch, scantily clad in a Borat mankini and a black wig. As the streaker evaded the stewards and continued to prance around on the pitch, Vickers saw red and decided to put a stop to the shenanigans. In a move more at home on the rugby pitch he tackled the man and handed him over to stewards. The referee promptly whipped out his red card for Vickers’ “violent conduct”. The shocked player had to leave the pitch in the 70th minute. Two of his enraged teammates quickly followed and Havant and Waterlooville scored twice in the last 20 minutes to win the match 3-1.

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